5 August 2003


Hello everyone:


I live in San Diego, California
and I have need of a good ortho-
pedic surgeon for a hip replace-
ment - one with lots of experience
and a good track record. I have
Tricare for Life and Medicare
Insurance, and I reside in Rancho
Bernardo. I am not necessarily
relying on a referral from my
primary care physician - it may
not be an objective referral.

How could I find this parti-
cular orthopedic surgeon with
a good track record.

Any information/explanation
is appreciated.


Regards,


"BeeBee"

P.S. feel free to email:
ikram36ikram@netscape.net

Cross post to news:alt.support.arthritis in hopes of a helping reply.
Harv

Brent wrote:

"Brent" <bb38@tns.net> wrote in message
news:3f30cb57.31422696@news.tns.net...

Steven Tradonsky on Alvarado Road performed
my THR in July 2000. I would not hesitate a
moment to recommend him to anyone.

My only post-surgery problem was some minor
pain which disappeared as soon as the staples
were removed. I gauged the pain at 4 or 5 on
a scale of 10 while sitting, about 2 or 3 while
standing.


I have the same medical coverage. I am in
the unincorporated East County.

My return address is anti-spam.

Fire - chief1 @ cox . net (remove spaces to mail)

San Diego, huh? You might want to check out this website, just for
starters.
http://twolff.users.ixpres.com/sandiegodoctorslist.htm

The point here...solicit lots of advice and recommendations. Then sift
them yourself.

I have lots of biases. Here are a few.

Background: Spent my young adulthood and middle years in an affluent
suburb of New York City, where my wife was bereavement counselor for
the local hospice. Over the years she noticed that when LOCAL DOCTORS
fell ill, they checked themselves into the big city's university
hospitals (Cornell, Columbis, NYU) without a backward glance at the
two big hometown institutions.
1. Not all hospitals are equal.
2. Hip (and knee) replacement is carpentry. Absent Jesus of Nazareth
and Thomas Chippendale, get yourself the best, most experienced
medical carpenter you can find.
3 thru 100. Use the internet!

It turned out that Paul Pellicci, the surgeon I found to do my hip,
http://www.hss.edu/htdoc/physicians/...s/pellicci.asp,
had done the hip replacement on Bo Jackson, arguably America's top
athlete.

Let your family physician give you a name or two and then see if
either is given the blessing of Castle Connolly
www.castleconnolly.com. They may miss some really great docs, but they
won't list the mediocre ones. They rate not only physicians, but also
hospitals.

I live in New Jersey but bypassed local hospitals upon learning that
Hospital for Special Surgery and Hospital for Joint Diseases, both in
NY, are considered world class. For that matter, so were two others,
but they were medical supermarkets for hearts, lungs, kidneys,
brains...and, by the way, hips. So I picked Hospital for Special
Surgery that cranks out joints round the clock and also happened to be
a match with Dr. Pellicci.

Notice, too, Dr. Pellicci's rap sheet: Harvard, Cornell, Johns
Hopkins. It's all there on the internet. I like the fact that he not
only teaches, but also presents before his peers at medical
conferences.

Cutting to the chase, by the time two summers ago they wheeled my
gurney off to neverland I had ruthlessly weeded out any practitioners
and hospitals that were even remotely questionable. Yes, it was
arbitrary and many goods ones were bypassed, but one of each was all I
sought and I was pretty sure I'd picked good ones because they were
thoroughly documented on the web.

Between Medicare and private Medigap (Plan F) the entire bill,
amounting to $27K, was covered. Rehab was covered too.

The moral of the story is to set high standards as to the credentials
and the experience of both the surgeon and the hospital and then use
Google and the rest of the internet to find the cream of the crop.

Joint replacement within our aging population is a big moneymaker, so
all sorts of people are doing them, including "C students" from
medical schools located on tropical islands. But the web will alert
you.

Gene
www.sayokay.com







bb38@tns.net (Brent) wrote in message news:<3f30cb57.31422696@news.tns.net>...

On Wed, 06 Aug 2003 14:28:25 GMT, "Harvey R. Stone"
<hrstone@swbell.net> wrote:


thanx, Harv, for assisting with this - it is
most appreciated. I've gotten some good
information in several of the newsgroups,
and it has been helpful in my present
search for a good orthopedic surgeon

BB

On Wed, 6 Aug 2003 14:35:48 -0700, "firechief" <Postmaster@127.0.0.1>
wrote:

thank you, firchief, for your 'input' in regards
to Dr. Tradonsky. It is most helpful!

BB

On 7 Aug 2003 11:21:29 -0700, optxx@juno.com (snapper) wrote:

Thank you so much, snapper, for your informative
information - it REALLY is helping us complete our
search for a good orthopedic surgeon who can
do the hip replacement

You spent a great deal of time disclosuing your
personal insights as well as some very good
overall advice, and we thank you

we have begun searching online for "wrap"
sheets: we've found several good doctor
regristry sites (which profile the surgeon's
cummulative vitae), and give info. about
educational backgroud, practical exper.,
and area(s) of expertise/focus, and it's
starting to pay off

we've just started to sift throught
the results, and we may add a few more
internet-based resorces to assists us


Thank you again - I can't tell
you how helpful your posting
was!

BB